The Case Page

A case page is built from sections: labeled panels and tabs, each handling one part of the case. The same sections show up on other records too, so each is documented in depth on its own page; below is what’s on a case and how the pieces fit together. (New to the idea of sections? See Sections of a record.)

One idea organizes the whole page: some sections belong to the client’s case file (the record of the representation that the client is always entitled to) and some are the firm’s own working material. Notes & Attachments, the trust ledger in Transactions, and intake answers are the client’s file. Private Comments, Red Flags, and Conflict Checks are internal to your firm and never appear in the client portal. Each section’s page says which side of that line it lives on.

The Head of the Case

The top of the page holds the case’s own fields: who it’s for, what kind of case it is, and how the money stands.

The Summary and the Stages

The page opens with the financial summary, the case’s vital signs: the unbilled amount (completed work not yet invoiced, green when it’s zero) and the lifetime billed and paid totals, excluding unused trust money. It’s the warning system that tells you when to invoice and when trust needs attention.

Right below it is the stage flow: the case’s stages, laid out as a progression. Stages come from the case type (you choose which ones apply when creating the case), and each records when it was entered and completed (dates you can adjust if you’re catching up the record). Stages can also be skipped when a case takes a shortcut.

Identity

• Name: used in the case list and on invoices. Best practice: name the case for the kind of case (“Divorce”, “Estate Plan”). Outlaw always shows the client’s name alongside it, so repeating the client in the name is redundant.
• Code: a unique reference, generated from the case type’s numbering scheme. A popular pattern is year-type-serial, like 2022-D-0002: the second divorce case of 2022. The scheme is configured per case type in Settings.
• Case Type: the area of law, usually inherited from the lead. The case type drives a lot: which red flags and intake questions are offered, and the code scheme above.
• Lead: the link back to the lead this case came from, connecting the sales history to the case.
• Case Number: the court’s own number for the case (case, docket, or cause number, depending on your jurisdiction), as distinct from your internal code.
• Court(s): where the case is heard; a case can involve more than one. Assigning a court is what activates its deadline rules in Events & Deadlines.

People

• Clients: the client(s) on the case. Pick existing contacts or type a new name to create one on the spot.
• Bill To: normally invoices go to the clients; if a third party pays (a legal insurance provider, for example), choose them here and invoices are addressed to them instead.
• Assigned To: the team members working the case.

Status and Money

• Disposition: the case’s status, one of Open (actively worked), Pending (not started yet), On Hold (open but paused, say, while the client replenishes their trust), Closed, or Closed (Withdrawn). Closed cases stop appearing when you create new tasks.
• Fee Type(s): how the case is billed (hourly, flat fee, contingency, or a combination). Each fee type you turn on adds its matching Fee Arrangements section further down the page. Once the case has been invoiced (or flat fees earned), the fee types lock: only the firm owner can change them, though Flat Fee can always be added.
• Minimum Trust: the balance the client must keep in trust. Outlaw uses it to calculate replenishment on invoices, warn you when remaining trust is running low against unbilled work, and stripe the trust column on the Cases page.
• Max Funding: if the money for this case is capped (limited client funds, an insurer’s payout limit, a limited-scope engagement), record the cap so everyone working the case knows the budget.
• Starting Billed / Starting Collected: for cases migrated from another system, what had already been billed and collected before Outlaw, so recovery analytics stay honest.

Below the fields, the head finishes with the clients’ email and phone at a glance, and, like every record, the case’s change history.

Money and Billing

• Time Entries: the tasks on the case, and the time logged against them. Remember a started task is a time entry. The case also shows a running unbilled total here.
• Transactions: the full money ledger, switchable between an account view and a trust view.
• Payment Methods: stored cards and bank accounts for the case’s clients (shown when a payment processor is connected).
• Expenses: costs charged to the case, headed for the invoice.
• Fee Arrangements: depending on how the case is billed, you’ll see Hourly Rates, Flat Fees, and/or Contingency.

People and Intake

• Participants: everyone involved in the case and their role. On a case these roles are legal or family (Opposing Party, Judge, Co-Counsel, or relations like Spouse), broader than the family-only Relationships on a contact.
• Intake & Custom Fields: your firm’s own questions for the case.

Calendar and Risk

• Events & Deadlines: hearings, filing deadlines, and other dates; everything here also lands on the Task Calendar.
• Conflict Checks: continuous conflict screening, drawing on the case’s participants.
• Red Flags: the risk checklist for the case, rolled into a single risk score. Flags fall into categories like financial, resource, malpractice, temperament, and strategic.

On Every Record

• Notes & Attachments: notes and files for the case.
• Private Comments: internal notes, pulling in comments from the case’s tasks, its originating lead, and its clients.

How This Connects

A case sits at the center of the firm, so it touches nearly everything.

• Flows in. A case is a won lead continued, not a fresh record: its clients, participants, who’s paying, fee arrangement, and the intake answers you kept all carry over. The case’s case type then drives its stages, deadline rules, the red flags that apply, and its numbering.
• Flows out. Tasks and time and expenses on the case roll into its invoices; payments settle them, and the Trust Sweep moves earned fees from trust to operating. What the case bills and collects then feeds firm reports and the case-type and red-flag tuning that sharpens your next intake.
• In time. Every change to the case is kept in its Blame Log (who, when, and exactly what changed, with one-click restore), and any invoice you finalize on the case is frozen as the legal document you sent. See How Outlaw Fits Together for the whole loop.